21SUM10 Wellbeing: An Integrated Framework to Teaching Wellbeing in Schools

“Nothing is so fatal to the wellbeing of our children as remaining indifferent to the education we provide for them”, Robert John Meehan. Start September with a different integrated approach to wellbeing education in your school! 

Now more than ever, it is crucial to prioritise the wellbeing and development of the children in our classrooms so we can prepare them for the challenges of daily life in our modern society. Although our national curriculum provides a designated subject to teach personal wellbeing and health, the time constraints of other curriculum areas have impacted greatly on the time we can spend on isolated wellbeing and mental health lessons. With this in mind, this summer course focuses on an integrated approach to teaching wellbeing education using many subjects. Building upon the DES requirement for a Wellbeing Policy by 2023, this course will provide you with a new knowledge base to enhance and improve wellbeing education through a holistic and integrated approach, using 'The 5 Ways to Wellbeing' as a framework. The ‘5 Ways’ were designed by the New Economics Foundation and have been endorsed by the HSE, Mental Health Ireland and other international associations and are scientifically proven to improve people’s wellbeing, from young to old. 

The aims of this course are to enhance the teaching and learning of wellbeing promotion and education for teachers, children and school communities. Participants will learn how to promote positive wellbeing in their schools using evidence-based approaches, methodologies and strategies, resources and digital technologies. The course will also provide opportunities for participants to critically analyse and review their own ‘Teacher Practice’ in the area of wellbeing education as part of the SSE process to gain new understandings, perspectives and skills through the process. On successful completion of this course, participants will feel empowered to return to their schools in September with new skills and knowledge to create wellbeing education lessons and schemes of work to integrate into their planning and practice, in line with the DES Wellbeing Policy Statement.